My 5 Favorite Lodi Wineries (A Semi-local’s Picks)
Lodi has close to 70 wineries. I grew up nearby, and I still haven’t hit all of them. So if you’re visiting and don’t want to spend a week researching, these are the five I keep dragging friends to.
Lodi sits in California’s Central Valley, about an hour from Sacramento and two from the Bay Area. It makes seriously good wine (Zinfandel especially) and gets almost no credit. It’s not Napa, and honestly, that’s the point. No $50 tasting fees. No hour-long waits. No attitude. Just good wine poured by people who actually want to talk to you.
No idea where to start? Start here.
1. Michael David Winery
This is the one most people have heard of, and it earns the hype. I was a wine club member for years, and the events alone justified the membership. They run them all year, and they’re actually fun. Not the stand-around-holding-a-charcuterie-plate kind.
Bringing a big group or planning a birthday? This is where I’d send you. Summer’s a great time to go if you can handle the Central Valley heat.
Tip: check their events calendar before you book anything. You might luck into perfect timing.
2. Oak Farm Vineyards
Solid wine, a beautiful property, and a staff that makes you feel like a regular on your first visit. Oak Farm works any time of year, but if you’re in town around the holidays, move it to the top of your list. They go all out on decorations, and it feels festive instead of like a Target Christmas aisle. A glass of red here on a cold December afternoon is exactly what you want.
3. Bokish Vineyards
Bokish is where I take people who need to decompress. There’s a big grassy outdoor area where you sit down, look up, and somehow an hour’s gone by.
My first visit was during Lodi’s Wine and Chocolate Festival (it runs around Valentine’s weekend, and if it lines up with your trip, go). Bokish was a highlight. Great wine, zero rush, nobody hovering to turn your table.
4. Jeremy Wine Co.
Jeremy is the odd one out, in the best way. Exposed beams, an industrial feel, nothing like the farmhouse-and-vines look you’ll see everywhere else in Lodi. I also found this one during the Wine and Chocolate Festival and left impressed.
If you’re doing a multi-stop day, put Jeremy in the middle. It breaks up the vineyard-after-vineyard routine.
5. Berghold Vineyards
Berghold is a little off the beaten path, which is exactly why I like it. The tasting room has an original wooden bar from the 1800s, and it’s worth the stop just to see it. The whole experience is low-key and personal, the opposite of a big production.
Don’t leave without a bottle of the Hypocrite. I grabbed one on my last trip, and it was absolutely the right call.
Where to Start
Seventy wineries is a lot of ground, and I’m still working through it. But if you only have a day or a weekend, these five are the ones I’d bet on. Book Michael David for the party, Bokish for the reset, and save Berghold for last.
Lodi is located in California’s Central Valley. Approximately 35 miles south of Sacramento and 85 miles from San Francisco.
Yes, and it’s been the Central Valley’s secret for years. Lodi has more than 100,000 vineyard acres and over 100 grape varieties planted, making it, by most accounts, the country’s largest AVA by planted acreage. The region produces roughly 20.5% of California’s total wine grape harvest.
Lodi calls itself the Zinfandel Capital of the World and produces nearly 40 percent of California’s premium Zinfandel. The real flex is the old vines. Some plantings date back to 1888, and many are still growing on their own rootstocks. If you only try one thing here, make it an old-vine Zin.
No, Lodi is its own region. It sits in the northernmost part of the Central Valley, between San Francisco and the Sierra Nevada. It’s about an hour-and-a-half drive from Napa. Different soil, different climate, different personality.